11 




Class T^3\n 

Book .Vn Tn 

CojjyiightlJ" 



CORfRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



JUNE ON THE MIAMI 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR 



Saga of the Oak, and Other Poems. 
With portrait. 

The Teacher's Dream. Illustrated. 

Cincinnati: A Civic Ode. 

Floridian Sonnets. With portrait. 

A Dream of Empire, or The House of 
Blennerhassett. An historical ro- 
mance. 

Tom Tad. A novel of boy life. 

Santa Claus and the Black Cat. A 
Christmas story. Illustrated. 

A History of the United States. 

Beginnings of Literary Culture in 
the Ohio Valley. 

Let Him First Be a Man. Essays. 

Tales from Ohio History. 

A Buckeye Boyhood. Historical and 
reminiscent. 



3(une on tj)e iWiami 

AN IDYL 



BY 

WILLIAM HENRY VENABLE 



STEWART AND KIDD COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS. CINCINNATI. OHIO 



N^'^ 

-a.^ 






Copyright, 1912, 

By STEWART & KIDD CO. 

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England 

All Rights Reserved 



©CI.A327696 



PREFATORY WORD 



More than half a century ago the author be- 
gan the composition of the poem, "June on the 
Miami," an early version of which appeared in 
his first published volume, issued in 1871, and 
now long out of print. But the attractive 
theme which had so strongly impressed his imag- 
ination in his boyhood, continued to engross his 
fancy, demanding ampler treatment; and after 
the lapse of forty years he undertook the recon- 
struction of the entire piece, adding much that 
is new and retouching almost every line of the 
original. The idyl in its completed form is here 
presented to the reader. 

W. H. V. 
Cincinnati, Ohio, 

August 29, 1912. 



JUNE ON THE MIAMI 



3nnt on tije iliami 

AN IDYL 
I 

T SING not Arno*s balmy dale, 
-^ Nor Ister*s far-meandering vale; 
Sing not of Alpine streams that break 
From crystal cave or mountain lake 
And under gleaming glaciers run, 
Or, leaping from romantic shades, 
Fling out their quivering cascades 
Like silver banners in the sun; 
I sing not ruin-haunted Rhine, 
Its fairy gold, its amber wine; 

Nor mythic Nile, with calends drawn 

1 



f une on tfje iWiami 



From Egypt's immemorial dawn; 

Here no illustrious waters glide, 

Renowned in lay and legend old» 

No moated grange is here descried, 

No grim baronial dungeon-hold, 

No abbey wrapt in solemn gloom, 

No feudal monarch's crumbling tomb; — 

But here, in verdurous glory drest, 

Lo, best beloved and loveliest, 

My Vallombrosa of the West, 

Smitten by morn's ethereal beam. 

Reveals to my enraptured eyes 

A second Earthly Paradise! 

And here Ohio's fairest stream, 

Miami, prattling in her sleep. 

Along the slumbrous valley lies. 

Her dreams, reflected clouds that sweep 

Yon lofty archway of blue skies. 



^n Sbpl 



Dear Vale! to thee might well belong 
Proud tribute of a statelier song; 
Well worthy meed of amplest praise 
Recounting brave ancestral days 
Of valorous men in virtue strong! — 
In humbler mood my heart essays 
The grateful theme that shall suffuse 
The bosom of my pastoral muse 
With influence and suggestion fine, 
Inbreathing so the pensive line 
That haply he who reads may feel 
A sense of summer o'er him steal; 
May deem perchance he roams with me 
Green fields, and drinks the sky as wine, 
Or wins authentic sylvan lore 
Along this visionary shore, 
The while his dreaming fantasy 
Belike those eerie haunts may trace 

3 



Sfune on tlje JWiami 



Where lurk the Genii of the Place, 
And from far dingles, dim and lone, 
Hear Pandean woodnotes faintly blown. 

II 

Upon this gently sloping height 

I stand, and while the sparkling dew 
Consumes in soft aurorean light, 

And freshened nature lives anew, 
And while the risen splendor grows, 

Disdaining every vanquished star. 
How all the wakening landscape glows 

With tremulous beauty, nigh and far! 
My vision paints the vari-hued 
Expanse, now bright and now subdued, 
In panoramic amplitude: 



an Mvl 



Behold ! where mist- veiled hills curve down 
To bosky glens and hollows brown; 
Fallow and furrowed tilth outroUed, 
Pasture and Ceres* ripening gold, 
Woodland and glade, and rural charm 
Of distant hamlet, peaceful farm, — 
Sequestered cottages half-hid 
Porch-vines and dooryard trees amid» — 
Orchards and garden-closures trim. 
Gray barns where swallows dip and skim; 
Zigzag rail fences scarce divide 
Broad meadow-plots from acres wide 
Of oat or purple clover sweet; 
Flowing before the breeze, far-seen. 
Whitens a rye-field's billowy sheen, 
And opulent roods of sultry wheat 

Bask wimpling in the saffron heat. 

5 



Sfune on tfie iWiami 



Now jocund Thrift and sinewy Toil 
Lead forth their tillers of the soil; 
Along the corn-field's rustling rows 
Cheerly the whistling plowboy goes; 
Betimes blithe harvesters begin 
The bearded barley gathering in; 
Aloft their polished pitchforks gleam, 
They deftly toss the sheaves about, 
Resounds the frequent lusty shout 
Admonishing the docile team; 
Anon upgrows the bronzen stack, 
Unburthening the laden rack 
Of each contributory wain; 
Conspicuous on the adjoining plain 
The clattering engine drives amain. 
And, ready for the binder's hand. 
The prone swath strows the stubble-land. 

6 



^n Mpl 



III 

Give Labor joy of stalwart hours 

To sow and reap abundant yield! 
Give Idleness to gather flowers 

And chase his winged dreams afield! 
Mine be the day, to waste or use, 
To hoard or squander as I choose; 
From care immune, my sole employ 
To loiter like a loitering boy, 
Happy because I do not know 
Where impulse may discover joy 
Or whimsey warn me not to go. 
Alone, unlonesome, do I stray, 
Content to find or lose my way, 
Wherever Contemplation lead. 
By riverside or flowery mead. 
Or where the sylvan quietude 
Invites the meditative mood. 



f une on tfte Jlliami 



Like as a Pilgrim who, before 

Some hallowed temple's Gothic door, 

Lingers awhile to shrive in prayer 

His penitential spirit, ere. 

Though welcome, he durst enter there, 

So here I bow a reverent head, 

Nor haste the vestibule to tread 

Of this cathedral solitude. 

Lest I profane by footing rude 

Its chancels and unechoing floors, 

Solemn arcades and corridors. — 

Devotion bears for me the verge 

To shrines for which I long have 
yearned. 
Dear to the forest demiurge 

Unto whose fane I am returned: 
A passionate worshiper I come. 

Long orphaned from the foster-home 

8 



^n Mvl 



And refuge of my young desires, 
Where in my heart the votive fires 
Of love and poesy first burned! 
Receive me to your cloistering wild, 
Ye guardian trees, no alien child. 
But one whose infant vision took 
Awed lessons from your pristine book; 
For whom the crooning night-wind sung 
Weird lullabies your boughs among. 

Majestic monitors, sublime! 

Today they stand as erst they stood, 
Priests and interpreters of Time! 

August, imperial brotherhood, 
Oracular, serene, and strong. 
Musing, communing of the long. 
Long centuries, and how that all 
But flourish to decay and fall! 

9 



Suite on tlje JWiami 



These immemorial kings maintain, 
Exemption proud! their patriarch reign; 
Scarce yet the sacrilegious blade 
Hath to their monarch trunks been 

laid, 
Nor their green privacy of gloom 
Been trodden by a ruthless doom: 
Primeval shades not more profound 
Hung o'er that Indian Hunting Ground, 
West-wilderness of vanished years, 
Famed Backwoods of the Pioneers, 
Whereof, in rugged numbers bold. 
The border history was told 
By him, our elder bard and sage, 
Who, in the calm of tranquil age. 
With deep voice sang 'Miami Woods;' 
These were his 'ancient neighborhoods;' 
These Druid oaks whose tongues confer 

10 



ain Mvl 



With heaven's blue deep, his comrades 

were; 
True Hmner of the changing year, 
Of glowing heart and vision clear. 
He conned all aspects and all moods 
Of Nature in these solitudes; 
Read in her open volume vast 
The mighty Present and the Past, 
And heard, resounding in his soul, 
The Anthem of the A?es roll. 



IV 

Yestreen, when stars new-kindled shone 
Like lambent cressets on thine old 
Mysterious walls of turf-bound mold, 
Fort Ancient! and with pallid gold 

O'erfilmed thy bowering leaves, alone 

11 



fune on tlje iWiami 



Upon thy whilom signal-tower, 
(Yon tumulus, by hands unknown 
Piled in their vanished pride of power,) 
I stood, awe-struck by ages flown. 
Held by a vision; or, perchance. 
Bound in clairvoyant dreamery, trance 
Of rapt Imagination's glance. 
By sorcery of the conjuring hour 
Through mists of legend backward cast 
Upon the dim, dissolving Past. — 
Innumerable phantoms rose. 
Exhaled from dank sepulchral ground. 
From dark ravine and burial mound, 
Shadows encountering shadowy foes, 
Wraiths from the Age of Stone, weird 

ghosts 
In troops contending: dusky hosts 
Fighting in empty air. — They fled, 

12 



nn 3bpl 



Pursued by other hurtling dead, 
Tribe of the brave Tewightiwees, 
Who, gibbering down the foggy breeze, 
Shrilled out thin war-cries on the night. 
Then melted from bewildered sight! 
Oo-ooed an owlet*s dismal croon, 
And, glimpsed in preternatural light, 
I was aware of Daniel Boone, 
In deer-skin clad, with muffled shoon. 
Gliding and swinging through the trees. 
Eluding so the foiled Shawnees. — 
Long silence lapsed. — Then it meseemed 
A spangled glory swept and streamed. 
That like a starry banner gleamed 
Victorious, and came the tramp 
Of soldiers, — haversack and gun, — 
Fast mustering to the Union Camp 
And bivouac of Dennison! 

13 



Sfune on tfje jWiami 



Rouse, dreamer, from thy mystic swound, 

Alarumed by no warlike sound! 

Nor trumpet blare, nor throb of drum, 

Nor battle-banners, this way come! 

Lo! an idyllic troop invades 

These ere while solitary glades! 

With frolic revel they advance. 

As from domain of old romance 

Commemorized in pastoral book; 

But here I see no shepherd-hook: 

No Colin Clout and Cuddie moan 

Love-lays forlorn to Bellibone; 

No more shall oaten quill upbraid 

Disdainful wile and vow delayed; 

Yet wings of Psyche glimmer here. 

And Eros, ambushed, flutters near; 

14 



an Mvl 



Pleasure and Beauty reappear, 
Transfigured in Hesperian dells, 
Where rustic beaux and rural belles 
From farm and hamlet thronging, wend, 
A sylvan holiday to spend. 

With blithe accord, in social games 

All join, — of origin untold, 
And quaint traditionary names. 

Well-known in merry England old: 
Three Roving Dukes, or What's Your 

WilD 
The Happy Miller at His Mill; 
Rise, Buttoner, Rise ; Hindmost of Three ; 
What Time, Old Witch? The Magic 

Key; 
Brave ^Copenhagen,' tricksy town! 
And London Bridge is Falling Down; — 

15 



Sfune on tfte iWiiamt 



King Charles; Queen Anne; The Hunted 

Glove; — 
Familiar covert ways of love, 
And perilous to blushing miss 
Who rashly risks the forfeit kiss. 

Anon the magic violin 
Sends through the woods a merry din; 
Young hearts with quickened ardor beat 
To hasten fast-assembling feet; 
Responsive to the rhythmic sound, 
Gay bevies flock the dancing-ground: 
With lissome grace and native skill 
They mingle in the light quadrille; 
Now rosy damsel, sunbrown swain, 
Swing partners, link the ladies' chain, 
Or, half-embracing, twain and twain. 
Glide waltzing o'er the level plain, 

16 



an 3bpl 



Nor note how swift the shadows pass, 
Sun-dialed on the velvet grass 
By gnomon elms and maples tall 
That colonnade the festal hall. 

When glowing noon rolls overhead, 

Then is the picnic banquet spread. 

On weft of linen snowy white, 

There in the chequered shade and light; 

Each savory viand, see arrayed 

By dainty skill of smiling maid. 

From rival baskets full-supplied. 

Drawn forth with home-reverting pride. 

Brisk raillery flies from lip to lip. 

The ready pun, the sparkling quip; 

Light gossip, gallant repartee. 

Regale the mirthful company: 

In vain coy prudence would repress 

17 



Sfnnt on tfje iWiami 



Pert inference and piquant guess; 

Yet tempered all, though rude the place. 

With urbane courtesy and grace. 

When jest and themes convivial fail, 
Fresh charms of tuneful art prevail; 
The soft guitar's responsive chords 
Make answer to melodious words, 
Or, by bewitching fingers wooed, 
Yield an impassioned interlude: 



SONG 

I know 'tis late, but let me stay, 

For night is tenderer than day; 

Sweet love, dear love, I can not go, 

Dear love, sweet love, I love thee so. 

The birds in leafy hiding sleep; 

Shrill katydids their vigil keep; 
18 



i^n StrpI 



The woodbine breathes a fragrance rare 
Upon the dewy, languid air; 
The fireflies twinkle in the vale, 
The river looms in moonshine pale. 
And look! a meteor's dreamy Hght 
Streams mystic down the solemn night! 
Ah, life glides swift, like that still fire,— 
How soon our throbbing joys expire! 
Who can be sure the present kiss 
Is not his last? Make all of this. 
I know 'tis late, sweet love, I know, 
Dear love, sweet love, 1 love thee so. 

Fantastic mist obscurely fills 

The hollows of Miami hills; 

Heardst thou? I heard, or fear I heard. 

Vague twitters of some wakeful bird; 

The winged hours are swift indeed! 

Why makes the jealous morn such speed? 

This rose thou wearst, may 1 not take 

For passionate remembrance' sake? 

Press with thy lips its crimson heart; 

Yes, blushing rose, we must depart; 
19 



f une on tlje ifMiami 



A rose can not return a kiss — 
I pay its due with this, and this; 
The stars grow faint, they soon will die. 
But love faints not nor fails — Good-bye! 
Unhappy joy — delicious pain — 
We part in love, we meet again! 
Good-bye! — the morning dawns — I go; 
Dear love, sweet love, I love thee so. 



VI 

By dance and song and love beguiled, 

Let youth the lavish hours delay; 
Once more to the congenial wild 

Escaping, I pursue my way 
To haunts reluctantly forsook 

And gladly reexplored alone, 
Seclusive dell and bowery nook. 

To rambling feet of boyhood known, 

$20 



an 3bpl 



Familiar solitude! No spot, 
No aspect of these groves forgot, 
Or mute remembrancer of June! 
Selfsame slant rays of afternoon, 
Through wavery verdure twinkling, sift 
On yonder selfsame gipsy group 
Of May-apple, a gay-green troop. 
Who as in jaunty sport uplift 
Their pigmy parasols. — Naught changed; 
Nor tree, nor bush, nor flower, estranged! 
But where the urchin band whose shout 
Erst woke the woodlands hereabout? 
Whose hands, by walnut stain em- 
browned. 
From fragrant hulls, on chosen ground, 
Threshed out the oily-kerneled store, 
Which home in tattered caps they 
bore! 

21 



Sftine on tfje iWiami 



Here, in ripe season, hip and haw 
Paid tribute; here the lush pawpaw 
We plundered. — How the wild grape stung 
With piquant sour the robber tongue 
Of all-devouring youth! — Long lost, 
Those barbarous delights! What frost 
Of Autumn, alchemy of Spring, 
To blood of sober Age can bring 
Those tangs and vital glows of joy 
That thrill the pulses of the boy? 

O harken! On impulsive wing. 
Glad birds, in green brakes fluttering, 
With sudden rapture join to sing! 
How ravishing the mellow notes 
That ripple from their joyous throats, 
And, blending in accordance clear, 
Melt on the captivated ear! 

22 



^n Mvl 



With blithe refrains antiphonal 
They flute their golden madrigal; 
Robin and Thrush and rollick Jay- 
Take up the quivering roundelay, — 
The warbling Cardinal, and June's 
Capricious mimic of all tunes. 

Mad though the feathered songsters be 

The realm of music to usurp, 
And flood the world in melody. 
Not all their choral minstrelsy 

May drown the unobtrusive chirp 
Of timid crickets who repeat 
Their iterant plea from shy retreat, 
Where they may pipe secure, unseen; 
While buccaneering bees, that glean 
From nectar cells, through balmy hours, 
(O'erladen with commingled sweet, 

23 



f une on tlje iMiami 



And pollen-gold from pillaged flowers,) 
On droning wings anear me hum; 
While intermittent babblings come 
From yonder brook whose shallows brawl 
0*er shelving marl, from fall to fall, 
Where balsam-breathing osiers grow, 
And droop their trailing branches low; 
Where water-beeches bend and dream. 
Faint-mirrored in the dappled stream. 

Anon a flitty breeze awakes 

And many an elvish gambol makes 

Hither and thither, whispering now 

Along the startled leafy bough 

Of aromatic sassafras. 

Now dancing with sweet Vernal grass, 

Now stealing fragrance from the hot, 

Wild kiss of hoyden bergamot. 

24 



^n 3bpl 



My soul I yield, and every sense, 
To June's enthralling influence. 
And each penumbral aisle re-greet 
With pensive, superstitious feet; 
Perchance, where circling knolls immure 
A verdurous hollow dell obscure, 
I pause, with curious eye to mark 
The myriad tiny lives that screen 
Their anxious toil by flower and leaf. 
Or, peopling caves in rifts of bark, 
Fulfil their little mission brief. 
Perchance, on some enticing bed 
Fringed round with plumy fern, I lean, 
Inhaling subtle odors shed 
From bruised mosses under me, — 
Then half I hear, and half i see. 
Or twittering bird or whispering tree. 
And loll in pleasing drowsyhead, 

25 



f une on tfte iWiami 



Remembering tales of Arcady, — 
Poetic tanglewood and maze 
Where Sidney's marveling fancy strays, 
Where life and pleasure sweetly move 
To law the Muses well approve; — 
Or that enchanted fairy bound, 
'Most daintie paradise on ground,' 
Embowered and goodly beautified. 
Wherethrough did bold Sir Guyon ride: 
Afloat upon the honeyed stream 
Delectable, of Spenser's rhyme, 
My spirit, voyaging, may dream 
Of heavenly Una wandering 
Forsaken in the lonely wild. 
Or dream of pure Belphebe, child 
Of sparkling dew and joyous prime! 
Then memory shall haply sing, 

26 



^n Mpl 



Deep in my heart, some lyric note 
Turned sweetly to the sweet bird's throat, 
By him who gave melodious breath 
To greenwoods of Elizabeth. 

VII 

Emerging from the forest gloom. 

My way I breast through elder-bloom, 

A level drift of summer snow 

Unmelting in the solar glow, — 

A resting cloud of white perfume, 

O'er which, on sultry wings and slow. 

Steeped in sambucan effluence, 

Drugging her languorous indolence. 

Poises the gaudy butterfly. 

Then floats and wavers up the sky. 

27 



Sfune on tfte iWiami 



This rambling foot-path downward 

wends 
To join the wagon-road, where bends 
The River near the bridge. And see 
Where towers the Advertising Tree, 
Renowned for proud pubHcity! 
A rugged oak upon whose bole, 

Tacked fast, conspicuous to view, 
Full many a script and printed scroll 
All passers-by with Notice hail. 
Of speech to hear, or vote to poll. 
Of cattle strayed, or sheriflF sale 

To highest bidder at vendue. 

See where, abandoned and aloof, 
Stands the old Mill, with gambrel roof. 
And storm-worn walls of lichened gray. 
Gnawed by the tooth of slow decay. 

28 



i^n Mvl 



Moss-grown, the broken wheel no more 
Revolves, nor shall the flood-gate pour 
Its foaming torrent from the weir; 
Hungry stagnation battens here; 
Over the sunken oozy bank 
Intrusive burdocks bend their rank 
Malodorous fronds, whereon the snail 
And slug have glazed their slimy trail. 
No more the crystal current falls. 
But now the mill-race creeps and crawls, 
Seeking a grave among the reeds. 
In the oblivious mold it feeds. 

Not so, Miami, thy quick force. 

Brimming thy gladsome shores between, 

From cedar cliffs, thy fountain source. 
Thy margin fringed with blossoming 



green ! 



29 



fune on tfje iljami 



Singing along thy willowy miles, 
Now kissing unreluctant isles, 
Claspt in thy silvery arms the whiles, 
Now flinging foam-bells on the bars 
Of tawny sands beneath the stars! 

VIII 

And is my day well-nigh fordone. 
Which, when arose yon sinking sun. 
Promise of leisure seemed to lend 
For journey to the rainbow's end? 
And do thy choral hours, O June, 
Whirl their diurnal round so soon? 
Dim shadows, cast from tree-trunks tall, 
Adumbrate faintly where they fall 
Phantasmal paths which scarce the eye 
May follow, so obscure they lie, 

30 



nn Strpl 



Glooming across the drowsy vale, 
Across the shimmering flood, like frail 
Pontoons for elves and fays to tramp 
Ere beams the first pale glow-worm lamp, 
Or last belated dragon-fly, 
A winged jewel, glitters by. 

Like to a wandering echo clear. 
Borne back from some forgotten year, 
Waking old memories in the brain. 
Appealing, melts upon my ear 
A far, melodious bugle-note 
Blown softly from a row-lock boat, 
I trow, by no unskilful swain. 
Resting on oar, whose cadent strain 
Over the listening water steals 
Into my reverie, and reveals 
Where youth and beauty, aye allied 

31 



3mt on tt)e iWiami 



With dream-eyed love and pleasure, 

glide 
Afloat upon the laggard tide. 

As die away, a sound forlorn. 
Those dulcet notes of silence born, 
A yearning melancholy swells 
My breast! Delay not our farewells, 
Fond shore! Bid my reluctant feet 
Return to yonder pledged retreat. 
Familiar homestead whence, at dawn, 
I gazed athwart the dewy lawn. — 
Yet pause! What rumbling discord 

breaks 
The hushed repose? A tremor shakes 
The conscious fearful ground! Beware! 
The City Train, a petty world 
Of expectation, change, and care, 

32 



an Mvl 



Along its iron course is whirled, 
With smoky banner wide unfurled 
Upon the startled, shuddering air! 
Shrieks the hoarse whistle's warning blast. 
Hot wheels, a blur of speed, bowl past. 
Dead leaves, alive from panic fright, 
Eddy and dance in fitful flight, — 
The loud tempestuous chariot-chain 
Storms north-bound, lessening on the 

sight. 
And tranquil Nature once again 
Resumes her solitary reign. 



IX 

Defeated down the western sky 
The crimson flags of sunset fly. 
And up the concave orient height 

33 



June on tlje iWiami 



Advance the conquering hosts of night. 
Through darkUng silence, cool and still, 
Glimmers the gray and ghostly Mill; 
The mill-dam, scarcely heard before, 
Sends up a low and muffled roar; 
Late driven from the pasture-land, 
A resting group, the cattle stand; 
The patient horses at the brink 
Of spring-fed runnel, pausing, drink; 
The weary farmer, labor-spent, 
Beside his doorway sits content. 
Breathing a mingled perfume flung 
From rose and honeysuckle, hung 
Like votive censers, in the air, 
Exhaling gratitude and prayer. 

The golden glow of day is gone; 
Miami, dreaming, murmurs on; 

34 



ian 3bpl 



The mystic wings of evening brood 
On upland, river, vale, and wood; 
Soft beaming o'er the hills afar, 
Hangs tremulous the vesper star, 
While large and luminous the moon 
Sails full upon the sky of June. 



35 



